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Digital Discoverers Activity Ideas
Activity Ideas to help you organise your Digital Discoverers event and be in with a chance of winning £500 with the Best Digital Discoverers Event Award, kindly sponsored by Toshiba!
To enter you must register your event and complete the award form.
Getting families online
Getting online can be a bit daunting for some people as they may be worried about getting things wrong or breaking the computer. The Family Learning Festival is an ideal time to help family members gain digital skills in a relaxed and informal environment. Parents and carers can also be given a helping hand by their children.
To make your online event successful:
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Make sure there is plenty of help on hand to answer any questions and fix any computer issues.
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Show people what to do slowly and talk them through it. If possible have some notes.
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Link to Race Online 2012 and its Go ON Give an Hour campaign, which encourages people who are already online to show others the wonders of the web.
Useful sites:
BBC First Click – basic computer skills www.bbc.co.uk/connect/campaigns/first_click.shtml
Race Online 2012 – http://www.raceonline2012.org/
Get Animated
Dadoodle is a site for practitioners and dads (but can be used by mums and any other family members too!). The site shows users how to make creative and fun animation films using digital technology – and provides tips on how parents can support their child’s learning. The ‘Best Coach’ course section contains animation resources and instructions on how to run an animation activity for the Family Learning Festival.
Dadoodle http://www.dadoodle.com/
Digital films http://www.digitalfilms.com/
Interactive story site - http://www.drawastickman.com/
Research family history
The internet is a fantastic tool for researching history – from family trees, to the history of a house and street, to finding out more about the local community. Basing an activity on things that families already know about can make learning more engaging and fun.
Useful sites:
The National Archives – looking for a place? www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-place
My Heritage www.myheritage.com/
BBC History – Doomsday Reloaded www.bbc.co.uk/history/doomsday
Using technology
Using a computer isn’t the only way to discover digital technology. There’s a whole host of other technology you can use for your Family Learning Festival event.
Txt Spk
Ask older children to lead an activity for their parents and carers on texting. You could get families to create a new dictionary for text speak. You could also look at other ways we write messages from tweets to morse code!
Useful site:
How to use Twitter - www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWpkuY1Q8Pk&feature=related
Taking a snap
Create an activity using photos taken on digital cameras and mobile phones. Upload them onto computers and ask participants to create a photo album about their family or hold a photographic competition based on your own theme.
Useful sites:
BBC Digital Photos www.bbc.co.uk/connect/makeplay/digital_photo
Digital Photography School – photo tips www.digital-photography-school.com/digital-photography-tips-for-beginners
Turn up the volume
Use voice recording equipment such as tape recorders, mp3 players or mobile phones to create an activity. You could invite participants to create sounds or stories, tell their own tales or even record a song.
Useful site:
Let them sing it for you - www.sverigesradio.se/p1/src/sing/
Digital revolutions
You don’t have to use digital equipment to hold an event that is eligible for the Digital Discoverers Best Event Award. You could partner up with a local nursing home or run an event with grandparents and create a timeline on how technology has changed. Families could talk about how this has helped (or hindered) them in their day to day lives.
Other useful links
Learn to type
Explore space with NASA!
www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/kidsclub/flash/index.html
Find out about food online
www.foodafactoflife.org.uk/Activity.aspx?siteId=14§ionId=63&contentId=175
Interactive Art
Start adding your events to the Family Learning Festival map
News
Enter the Award for Best Digital Discoverers Event
